Wilfred Bion's unpublished lectures at the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Society and Institute in April in 1967 represent a unique opportunity for students either new to or continuing in the study of Bion's unique psychoanalytic vertex. Here one can both read - and hear - Bion's clear exposition of his clinical and theoretical thinking to an audience of primarily Freudian trained American analysts, most of whom were new to his ideas. The first lecture sets out Bion's ideas on 'memory and desire' in a paper that set the benchmark in the origins of contemporary Kleinian clinical technique. Bion discusses the various factors that facilitate optimal listening receptivity in the analyst, for example how one differentiates the 'K' link vis-a-vis 'transformations in O.' In the second lecture, Bion defined projective identification, container/contained and 'beta elements'- and how these ideas serve as an orienting template for the analyst's understanding of 'proto-mental' states of mind, either in psychotic, borderline or neurotic patients. He clarifies these ideas while engaging with the queries of renowned American analysts, such as Ralph Greenson.

These newly discovered clinical seminars of Wilfred Bion, which include supervisions, personal case presentations, and lectures on psychoanalytic theory, represent his initial foray into many years of work that have inspired South American analysts for nearly a half a century.The clinical and theoretical work of Bion arguably ranks rather high in the current psychoanalytic firmament-as national and international conferences convene regularly to continue discussing the contemporary relevance of his work. His work has served as a source of inspiration to contemporary psychoanalysts in all three regions of the International Psychoanalytical Assocation-Ronald Britton, Antonino Ferro, Giuseppe Civitarese, Thomas Ogden, James Grotstein, and Paolo Sandler, just to name a few. These newly discovered clinical seminars from work Bion conducted in Buenos Aires in 1968 help us to further fill out the picture of his versatile gifts. In these seminars, we find lectures on Bion's elaborations on his epistemological research-still on-going in the 1960s when he went to Buenos Aires; a lecture on the Grid and its clinical relevance.But most importantly for analysts, new or old to Bion studies, is a centrepiece two-seminar, continuous case supervision conducted by Bion on the analytic work of Horacio Etchegoyen, then a relatively new student of Kleinian studies after being re-analyzed in London by Donald Meltzer. This supervision alone represents the single, longest supervision ever recorded of Bion. Other highlights include Bion's own case presentation of a very difficult-to-treat borderline patient, something of a rarity in his published work, as Bion was generally disinclined to present his own case work. These clinical seminars are rounded out by other supervisions, Q and As with the audience of over 300 analysts who came from all parts of South America to hear this premier analyst in Buenos Aires.

Previously unpublished in English, this book comprises lectures W.R. Bion gave in Rome, in 1977. The volume consists of questions from the floor and Bion's fascinating and, at times, controversial answers. The lectures are divided in two: the first part was organized by the Italian Psychoanalytical Society and the second by the Via Pollaiolo Research Group. Bion's replies examine such diverse subjects as difficulties in the interaction between the therapist and the patient; music and psychoanalysis; non-verbal communication in the consulting room; and methodology in psychoanalysis.'What I want to draw attention to is this idea that the human animal has a mind, or a character, or a personality. It seems to be quite a useful theory, and we behave as if we thought it was more than that. When it comes to being psychoanalysts and psychiatrists, this cannot be treated as if it were simply an entertaining theory. Nor do patients come to see us because they are suffering from an entertaining theory. We could say that there is one collaborator we have in analysis on whom we can rely, because he behaves as if he really had a mind and because he thought that somebody not himself could help. In short, the most important assistance that a psychoanalyst is ever likely to get is not from his analyst, or supervisor, or teacher, or the books that he can read, but from his patient.'- W.R. Bion

The Complete Works of W. R. Bion is now available in a coherent and corrected format. Comprising sixteen volumes bound in green cloth, this edition has been brought together and edited by Chris Mawson with the assistance of Francesca Bion. Incorporating many corrections to previously published works, it also features previously unpublished papers. Including a general index and editorial introductions to all the works, these volumes will be a useful and valuable aid to psychoanalytic scholars and clinicians, and all those interested in studying and making use of Bion's thinking.Bion's writings, including the previously unpublished papers and additions to his Cogitations, collected together in the Complete Works, show that the clinical thrust of Bion's work has clear lines of continuity with that of Melanie Klein, just as her work has an essential continuity with the later work of Freud. In Bion's clinical work and supervision the goal remains insightful understanding of psychic reality through a disciplined experiencing of the transference and countertransference; the setting and the method - however much Bion's terminology might suggest otherwise - remains rigorously psychoanalytic.Volume IThe Long Weekend: 1897-1919 (Part of a Life)Volume IIAll My Sins Remembered: Another part of a LifeThe Other Side of Genius: Family LettersVolume IIIWar Memoirs 1917-1919Volume IVThe 'War of Nerves' (1940)On Groups (1943)The Leaderless Group Project (1946)Psychiatry at a Time of Crisis (1948)Group Methods of Treatment (1948)Language and the Schizophrenic (1955)Experiences in Groups and Other Papers (1961)Learning from Experience (1962)Volume VElements of Psycho-Analysis (1963)Taming Wild Thoughts (I): The Grid (1963)Transformations: Change from Learning to Growth (1965)Volume VIMemory and Desire (1965)Catastrophic Change (1966)Second Thoughts: Selected Papers on Psychoanalysis (1967)Notes on Memory and Desire (1967)Attention and Interpretation: A Scientific Approach to Insight in Psycho-Analysis and Groups (1970)Book Reviews (1966)Volume VIIBrazilian Lectures:1973 Sao Paulo Lectures1974 Sao Paulo Lectures1974 Rio de Janeiro LecturesVolume VIIIClinical Seminars:Brasilia 1975Contributions to Panel Discussions: Brasilia, a New Experience (1975)Sao Paulo (1978)Bion in New York and Sao Paulo:New York (1977)Sao Paulo (Ten talks) (1978)Volume IXThe Tavistock Seminars (June 1976 - March 1979)The Italian Seminars (1977)A Paris Seminar (July 1978)Volume XTwo Papers:The Grid (1971)Caesura (1975)Four Discussions (1976)Four Papers:Emotional Turbulence (1976)On a Quotation from Freud (1976)Evidence (1976)Making the Best of a Bad Job (1979)Interview with Anthony Banet Jnr (1976)Taming Wild Thoughts (II): Untitled (1977)Volume XICogitationsReview of Cogitations, by Andre GreenVolume XIIA Memoir of the Future: Book 1Volume XIIIA Memoir of the Future: Book 2Volume XIVA Memoir of the Future: Book 3 (with expanded Key)Volume XVUnpublished papers:The Conception of Man (1961)Penetrating Silence (1976)New and Improved (1977)Further Cogitations (1968-1969)Appendix A: The Days of Our Lives (1994), by Francesca BionAppendix B: 'Catastrophic Change' and 'Container and Contained Transformed': a comparison, by Chris MawsonAppendix C: Standardized Bibliography of Bion's Works, compiled by Harry KarnacVolume XVIReferencesGeneral Index